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Prayer and Fasting On occasion, every priest will have something on his mind that he would like to communicate with his parish, but the Sunday lectionary doesn’t exactly agree. The readings point in one direction, while the priest wants to go another. Today is not one of those Sundays. In fact, because…

Prayer for All People I want to talk about prayer this morning, specifically prayer for our leaders. Paul, in our reading from 1 Timothy, finally gets to the body of his letter. All of chapter one is essentially introduction and greetings, but now with chapter two Paul moves into the formal body of his…

We Are All Sinners In homiletic textbooks (these are books on how to preach), they often say that a good sermon has three main points: an introduction, a body, and conclusion. Then they break this down even further and say that the body of the sermon likewise should have three and only three points,…

Choose the Right Side As many of you know, the thing I like to talk the least about is money. I’m happy to stand here and ask for help when one of our brothers or sisters is in need, but talking about the offering or church finances publically makes me terribly uncomfortable. I was having a conversation…

Starting at the End I’ve said many times that the Christian life is the process of becoming who we already are in Jesus Christ. That is to say, when you were baptized, you were baptized into Christ, and in Christ, you already are everything that you ever will be. The Christian life then begins at the…

sola fide As good heirs of the Reformation, we all know that we are saved sola fide, by faith alone. Because of this we talk about faith, we promote faith, and we use the language of faith when we talk to each other. For all of this, when you try to pin someone down on what exactly faith is, that can…

In Him Last week I tried to set the context for some of Paul’s ethical teaching thats come at the end of chapter two and then throughout chapter three. What I tried to make clear is that, in Paul’s mind, at your baptism, something happened. For Paul, baptism isn’t merely a symbolic act of obedience.…

Yesterday Yesterday, I started my morning by checking my calendar. Now I’m pretty bad at reaching out to people on their birthdays, but I’m trying to get better. I have started adding birthdays to contact information, and I’m trying to reach out to people on their special day. I’m still awful at it,…

“Is He—Quite safe?” In my office, I have a poster of a painting that hangs in the Wade Center at Wheaton College. The painting is named Aslan, and it was painted by Sally Brestin. It’s very large, and it hangs on a wall all by itself. It feels imposing to stand in its presence. When I stood there and…

Looking to Jesus Last week I talked about Hebrews 11 . This morning, I’m going to talk about Hebrews 12 . But before I do that, there’s one more thing I want us to notice in Hebrews 11 . Hall of Faith This chapter is sometimes referred to as the great hall of faith, for the author writes of Hebrews tells…

Not a Moment, but a Journey Becoming Christian, or becoming Christ-like, is not something that occurs in a single moment. It is rather more like a journey. The process of becoming more like Christ is something that takes place over a long period of time, over a lifetime. But every journey does have a…

Stories Jesus loved to tell stories. Regardless which of the canonical Gospels you are reading, one thing that is clear in each of the Evangelist’s portrayal of Jesus is that Jesus loved to tell stories. Stories are how we make sense of the world. We do not actually live by a rigid set of facts that…

Colossians One of the difficulties with Pauls’ letter to the Colossians is that it has this condensed quality to its writing. Or more correctly, because we are heirs of the Reformation tradition and therefore so used to and familiar with the Paul of Galatians and Romans, which are written in response…

Galatians The Epistle to the Galatians is about identity. What does it mean for a person to be a Christian? How do you get in, and what does it mean once you’re in. Paul’s answer answer comes at the end of chapter 3: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither…

Dcn. LJ’s sermon on the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost | October 23, 2022

This is, arguably, my favorite Sunday. Please remember though that I speak in hyperbole, so I reserve the right to call many other Sundays my favorite Sunday. But this, I think, really is my favorite Sunday besides Easter because on this Sunday I get to confess as clearly and as loudly as I want to the…

Fr. Michael’s sermon on October 9, 2022

TEXTMatthew 10: 24-39 QUESTIONWhat should we do if people abuse us verbally for our faith? ASSERTIONThe writer of Matthew teaches his congregation that they need to expect verbal and physical abuse, the Thirteenth Beneciction. If the Master was not spared this kind of gossip and slander, this name calling…

A sermon preached by Pastor Robert Schaefer First & Spring Creek Lutheran Churches Fourth Sunday in Lent – March 21, 2004 Text: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Two thousand years ago, Christians believe, God entered…

A sermon preached by Pastor Robert Schaefer First & Spring Creek Lutheran Churches Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany – February 15, 2004 Text: Jeremiah 17:5-10 Friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It was almost a year ago that I came to North Dakota,…

A sermon preached by Pastor Robert Schaefer First & Spring Creek Lutheran Churches Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 16, 2004 Text: John 14:27 Friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.” Jill Jackson…

A sermon preached by Pastor Robert Schaefer First & Spring Creek Lutheran Churches Fourth Sunday of Easter – May 2, 2004 Text: Acts 9:36-43 Friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It was difficult to hear the first lesson today, wasn’t it?…

A sermon preached by Pastor Robert Schaefer First & Spring Creek Lutheran Churches All Saints Sunday – November 7, 2004 Text: Ephesians 1:11-14 Friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. There are certain images – whether they’re in film, on television,…